Oklahoma State Safety Trey Rucker Named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week after Career Game against South Dakota State

Trey Rucker made a little history last season when he was one of three Cowboys to eclipse 100 total tackles. Based on his performance against South Dakota State, he might be aiming for 200 this year.

The senior safety recorded a career-high 15 tackles in the Cowboys’ win against the Jackrabbits on Saturday. His nine solo takedowns were also a career best. For his efforts, Rucker earned Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, his second Big 12 weekly honor. He also earned DPOW after Oklahoma State’s regular-season finale when he stripped the ball from a BYU player in double-overtime to clinch the win and a trip to Arlington for the Pokes.

“Trey loves to play football and always has,” Mike Gundy said during his weekly press conference Monday. “He’s reckless and will totally disregard his body to play the game, which is what you have to do to be competitive at this level and he likes football.

“Trey’s a guy that would play forever if you’d let him. He’s a quiet leader. He’s not vocal, but players do enjoy watching him and it’s valuable to have a player like him on your team because he’s relentless and he’ll compete from start to finish.”

This weekend, Rucker and the Cowboys will try to slow down an Arkansas team that hung 70 points on Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The Cowboys and Razorbacks kick off at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium.